This Quest Was Different
by AnotherFacelessAuthor
Summary: Sally knew this quest had been different the moment she set her eyes on her son. She knew because of the way he tensed up when she hugged him. She knew because of the way Annabeth reached for a weapon that wasn't at her hip. And she knew because for the first time ever, there was something he wasn't telling her. A story about Sally learning about her son's trip to Tartarus.


**Welp. It's been a while. *waves* So according to a PM-er who partially motivated me to post this, it's been two years since I've posted. I don't really have an excuse.**

 **But luckily, as with most of the fandom, the announcement of the Percy Jackson musical dragged my ass back into the fandom with full force (not that I ever left). And I'm so excited because my midwestern self is literally going to NYC over spring break to see the musical. Already bought my ticket.**

 **Possibly because of certain lyrics of Good Kid but I've been really into stories involving Percy's parents. So this story is about Sally getting to see Percy for the first time after the quest (which it's an injustice we didn't get to see this scene) and her finding out about tartarus. I also am sort of writing another story that would involve Gabe, a kind of literal "what if" story, but I don't really wanna post until I was pretty sure I could finish and not leave you guys high and dry. Although reviews motivate me. Maybe after swim season. I'm now a D3 college distance swimmer and its a long season that takes up a lot of time but it ends next month so maybe after then I'll become more active.**

 **Anyhoo, like I said: reviews motivate me a lot.**

 **I'm not Rick Riordan or whatever I have to say here.**

 **READ ON**

Sally knew this quest had been different the moment she set her eyes on her son.

The ridiculous boy had actually knocked on the door and simply waited for it to be opened. In no hurry, Sally had meandered to the door, having become rather unwelcome to visitors in the past few months. Well, most visitors, that is.

When Sally opened the door, she froze. Staring right at her, actually staring a little down at her, was her son. Her son who she hadn't seen in far too many months. Sally let out a breath she'd been holding since the moment she'd learned he'd gone missing. "Percy…"

Half of Percy's mouth tipped upwards. "Hi, Mom."

And like that she was unfrozen. She pulled Percy into her, and managed not to chuckle at Percy's surprised gasp. At first, he was unusually tense, as if waiting for something. And then Sally felt her son start to collapse into her, burying his head in her shoulder and suddenly he was eleven years old all over again. She could barely make out some muttering under his breath, but it wasn't until she pulled away that she could understand the words.

"I'm so sorry, Mom, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Mom, Mom, I'm so sorry." When she looked at his face, he wasn't crying, but there was something broken in his eyes that matched the break in her own heart.

Suddenly, a new voice piped in. Quiet and uncharacteristically mouse like. "Sally." She turned to face Annabeth, the one visitor she had always welcomed in her home. "I brought him home, Sally. I got him back." Her voice cracked and Sally didn't think her heart could break any more. Just as she did for Percy, Sally wrapped the strong girl into her arms and felt the blonde shake.

"I knew you would, Annabeth." Sally pulled away and wiped her eyes. "Come inside, both of you." She turned and walked in, knowing the heroes behind her would follow. She heard the door close behind them and turned around to see the two of them tentatively step into the apartment, looking around as if it had become a foreign place. This was the first chance Sally got to actually look at them.

Oddly, what Sally first noticed was the body language between the two of them. Sally remembered the first time she'd seen the two as a couple. They were all nervous touches and smiley glances, both of them seemingly in awe of their own relationship. This was not the couple standing in front of her right now. Their hands were clasped, their arms so close they were touching. Annabeth stood slightly behind Percy, as if he was still acting as her guardian in his own home. Looking at them you'd think they'd been together for years, not months.

But Sally supposed that demigods marked time in a different manner.

Next she noticed their eyes flitting around. Percy seemed to be soaking in the scene, completely amazed by the normalcy around him. With his brow scrunched in concentration, it almost looked like he was trying to find some flaw in the image around him. Meanwhile, Annabeth kept glancing to the windows, and the door behind her. Any sound by the neighbors made her head turn while her hand reached for a weapon missing from her belt.

Finally, well. Ambrosia worked wonders, but Sally could still see the scars and exhaustion that wracked the bodies of the two children in front of her.

Sally didn't know where to start, so she supposed she might as well start with what's most important. "You're alive."

Percy chuckled. "Yeah, despite everyone's best efforts, I'm still kicking."

Annabeth elbowed her boyfriend, but poorly hid her smile. "I think you mean to say that it's because of everyone's best efforts that you're still kicking, Seaweed Brain. Do you know how hard it is to build a flying warship?"

"Not in the slightest." Percy made a reflexive move to sit at the kitchen counter, and Annabeth followed suit, her body never more than an inch from Percy's, her hand still clasped in his. "If the boat's not in the water, it's literally out of my element."

"Ha-ha," Annabeth gave a dry laugh.

Sally wanted to smile, because clearly that's what Annabeth and Percy wanted, but she'd been a mother to a demigod too long to be fooled by this show of comfortability. They were both still too tense, their still eyes too jittery. They were putting on a show for her benefit.

"What happened on the quest?" They both looked up at her, now on the other side of the counter opposite of them, as if startled by the interruption. They were two actors who hadn't given the final character her script.

Percy laughed and raked his hand through his hair, a nervous and frustrated gesture he's had for years. "What didn't happen on this quest? I don't even know where to start." Percy sat up and planted his hands on the table, as if suddenly remembering something that deeply angered him. "Frank Zhang is a descendant of Poseidon and can turn into a dragon." Percy sat back into his chair, arms crossed. "I feel cheated."

"Frank...Zhang?" Sally asked.

"He's one of the other Seven," Annabeth explained, "one of the Romans. Frank is a son of Mars, Ares' Roman equivalent, and, yes," Annabeth said, glancing at Percy, "he is a distant descendant of Poseidon and does possess remarkable shape shifting abilities."

"A. Dragon. Mom. He can turn into a _dragon_."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Our other new member was Hazel Levesque, a daughter of Pluto, the Roman version of Hades, who can control precious gemstones." Sally saw something in Annabeth's face change, she watched as the blonde's eyes became unfocused. "She's only thirteen years old." The humor drained out of Percy's face, too. Sally wondered how long they've been doing this act for those around them. She wondered how many people believed them.

"Percy…" Sally waited for her son to meet her eyes before speaking again. "I need to know about this quest."

Her son looked so tired. His shoulders sagged and his eyes were casted down. "Mom," he said, with a tone so tremendously different than it had been a moment ago. "This quest was different. It wasn't like the other's. Not even the Titan War."

Sally reached out and grabbed Percy's clenched fist, while Annabeth snaked her hand into his other. Percy seemed to flinch on contact, but eventually relaxed. "I need to know, Percy."

Percy gave a half smile that wasn't a smile at all. "I guess I should start with my amnesic vacation to Alaska."

Once Percy started talking, it was like he couldn't stop, but he said everything with a grain of untruthful humor. When he talked about having no memories and being on the run, he'd laugh about the awful food he scavenged or the time he stole a cop car, but the smile wouldn't reach his eyes, and she knew there was so much fear he wasn't sharing with her.

His story went on and on and on. Once Annabeth entered the picture, she would occasionally pipe in with extra comments or a description of what she had been doing at the time. Occasionally they would bicker and elbow each other, but never did the humor feel honest. And never did the two of them let go of each other.

Percy told the whole story, beginning to end. Except for one thing.

Sally didn't know what it was, but there was a part of his story that seemed to get glossed over. He switched from "And then we went and…" to "And then the Argo II went and…" Something happened to the two of them. Something when Annabeth went off on her own for the Athena Parthenos. Sally didn't know what, but it terrified her.

But she didn't press. They both looked so close to breaking that Sally just wanted to give them a hug and offer them a good night's sleep.

But it turned out she could only do one of those.

Paul had came back later that day and more happy reunions were had. After that, the day went by with extreme normalcy. They ordered pizza and threw on the TV and talked about anything but the quest or the months that Percy had been gone. When the two heroes grew tired, Sally sent them to bed. She didn't even question it when she saw them both go into Percy's room. At this point, Sally was done pretending like she had any right to dictate any part of her son's life. She'd be his mom even after she died, but he no longer needed a parent.

It wasn't long after that she retired to bed as well. She couldn't fall asleep, though. Percy's story was trapped in her head, screaming the tally of wounds her son had endured. But her head wasn't the only one screaming.

It happened a little after midnight. Sally had managed some fitful state of half sleep when Percy started screaming. "ANNABETH!"

Sally bolted upright and scrambled to get out of bed, but tripped when one of her feet was still tangled in the bed sheets. By the time she got to Percy's room, he was already wide awake-

Kneeling on top of Annabeth, his sword to her throat.

Annabeth lay very still, but overly did not look too concerned by the blade pressed against her neck. "Percy…"

Suddenly Percy gasped, throwing himself off Annabeth. He didn't drop his sword, if anything he white knuckled the hilt even more. Percy's eyes were wide and he sucked in air like he'd just been suffocated. "I'm so sorry, Annabeth. I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Annabeth. Annabeth, I'm so sorry." He said her name like an incantation and his apology like a curse. His voice shook, but it didn't look like he was crying. Annabeth slowly crept up to him, as if trying not to startle him. Very gingerly, Annabeth wrapped her arms around her boyfriend.

"It's okay, Percy. We're okay. We're together."

"I'm so sorry, Annabeth."

Sally, who had yet to be noticed by the two, watched as Annabeth's eyes glanced upwards like she was looking for someone to blame...or maybe just for someone to help her just this once. Sally got the idea that Percy was apologizing for something more than just this rude awakening. "We're okay, Percy," Annabeth finally said. "We're alive."

Sally slipped back into the hallway, her hand covering her mouth. Paul was there waiting for her, a questioning look in his features that dissolved as soon as Sally fell into them, her sobs controlled in an effort to hide them from Percy and Annabeth.

Sally knew now more than ever that Percy was keeping something from her.

She wouldn't get her answer until the next night.

The next day had passed in the same strange bubble of forced normality as the day before. At one point Percy and Annabeth went for a walk to get some air and Sally tried really hard to convince herself that they weren't trying to get a break from being around Sally and Paul.

Night came and there wasn't any screaming. That didn't stop Sally from waking up every hour to check on the two. On one of those occasions she did see a sobbing Annabeth curled against a protective Percy, and this time it was she who whispered apologies that Percy brushed off.

"It's not your fault, Annabeth. I wouldn't change what happened if I could. Like you said, we're okay, Annabeth. We're alive."

Sally left, images of her son in his young and awkward years before all of this demigod nonsense burned in her mind's eye. When Sally came back two hours later, Annabeth was sound asleep, but Percy was notably absent. She felt the chill of a breeze and saw that Percy's bedroom window that led out to the fire escape was open. Without thinking, she went towards it and joined Percy outside.

At the sudden noise Percy whipped around, his hand in the pocket that Sally knew held Riptide. He relaxed, and then looked confused. "You're not Annabeth. Is something wrong?"

Sally thought there was something interesting to the order of his comments. "You weren't in bed."

Percy looked away and leaned on the railing of the fire escape. "Couldn't sleep."

"Nightmares?" Percy didn't answer right away. "Percy, I heard you last night."

He sighed. "I was worried you might have. With Annabeth, usually I don't...but last night i don't know…" He chuckled humorlessly again and somewhere in the back of Sally's mind she heard his loud laugh, the one that could sweep a room and bring a smile to everyone's face. This was not that laugh.

"Percy, I know there's something you're not telling me."

Percy stood, his back straight, his fists clenched, looking for all the world as if he was about to march into a fight. His eyes were locked forward, away from Sally, looking colder and more distant than she'd ever seen them.

 _There'd be all these gangs on the streets,_ she remembered Percy telling her the other day, _and they would just look at me, ya know? Thinking I might be some dumb kid they could take advantage of._ He laughed. He was always laughing. _Boy were they wrong. They'd take one look at me and go running. Man, I wish monsters were that easy to scare. It'd sure save me a lot of time._

"What aren't you telling me, Percy?" She saw his jaw lock.

 _Romans weren't really into the idea of having a Son of Neptune around. They weren't really into, well, anything I did. Or said. And they certainly weren't on board with the idea of sending a quest to Alaska, even if it did have a god's approval. Two if you count Hera. Or Juno. Whatever. But I'm sure you can guess how I reacted to that. ...Oh, Annabeth, you're calling_ me _stubborn?_

Percy had always been one to gloss over the scary details, but she was quite certain that he had never deliberately kept secrets from her. At least not to this scale. "Percy, why won't you talk to me?"

"Because I don't want you to know." Percy turned to look at her. His eyes were a steel wall erected to hide the rubble of a disaster. "I don't want to scare you."

"Nothing could scare me more than the idea of you keeping something from me."

There was that half smile. "Wanna bet?"

"Percy…"

He sighed, and then it was just like before. Once he started speaking, he couldn't stop. "It was back when Annabeth went on her solo quest for the Athena Parthenos. She was in this cave underground somewhere in Rome and she found the statue but it was guarded. To get the statue, Annabeth had to defeat Arachne, her greatest fear."

"Oh gods…" Sally whispered.

But Percy turned, his eyes wide with pride. "But you should have seen her mom. I wish I had. She managed to convince Arachne to weave one of those-what are they called?-chinese handcuffs! Yeah, chinese handcuffs. Arachne couldn't create enough webbing so she had to steal webbing that was around the room, including the webbing that covered the Athena Parthenos. Annabeth told Arachne to investigate the inside of the handcuffs and Arachne was trapped. That's when we came in."

Percy's face darkened and he turned away from Sally again, leaning against the railing. "We got to Annabeth as soon as we could. The Argo II plowed right through the ground of a parking lot. The floor of the cave was pretty unstable, though, especially after all the webbing in the room had been used in Annabeth's trap. When the cars crashed into the floor, it just cracked, leaving a giant chasm in the room. Arachne was crushed and sent down the chasm." Percy leaned back with his hands still gripped tight to the railing, his eyes closed. "I should have seen the webbing, mom, I should have cut it off. I could have done something."

He stood straight again, his eyes still downcast. "When I saw her I was just so happy she was okay. I mean she was banged up and terrified and her ankle was in bad shape but she was alive and she was there and we were together. I pulled her away from the edge." He glanced up at Sally. "I was so proud of her mom. She was incredible."

Sally felt herself frozen in fear. She didn't want to hear what Percy was about to say, but she had to. "Percy...what happened?"

His gaze fell once more. "There was webbing on her ankle. I didn't really notice and I don't think Annabeth really thought much of it. We were fine, some of the others were going to secure the Athena Parthenos and then…" He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "She was right next to me and then one moment later she wasn't. I should've have just cut the webbing."

"Percy-"

"I just-I leapt after her," Percy continued, as if he wasn't even seeing Sally anymore. His eyes were glazed over, not entirely unfocused but instead focused on something that only Percy could see. "I couldn't reach my sword to cut the webbing that was pulling her into the chasm, I couldn't do anything and then all of a sudden we were over the edge."

Sally felt her breath catch, her hand go to her mouth. What he was saying...she had pretty much expected it as soon as he mentioned the chasm but she had hoped she was wrong.

"I caught a ledge about fifteen feet down, but it wasn't enough. We couldn't hold on long enough to get help. We were out of Nico's reach. There was just-there just wasn't enough time. Annabeth told me to let her go." His eyebrows scrunched and he shook his head. "Like I would do that after all the work we put into getting us back together? Besides," his voice dropped to a whisper, "someone was going to have to go into the pit anyways." Sally noticed the vocabulary change. "The Doors of Death had to be closed from both sides of the pit." Percy took one final, bracing breath. "So I told Nico to meet us on the other side. And then I looked at Annabeth and I told her we would never be separated again." Percy stood up fully erect and turned to face Sally completely for the first time. His body was tense, as if he was still bracing himself. "And then I let go of the ledge. And we fell. Together."

Sally stood there, silent. She was terrified to speak, terrified to acknowledge the truth.

Percy studied her and became increasingly worried. "I couldn't let her go alone, Mom. I just couldn't. I just got her back, I wasn't going to risk losing her."

Sally's voice was quiet. "Where did the pit go, Percy?" She was pretty sure, but she had to know for certain.

He closed his eyes. "Don't make me say the name."

"Tartarus." Sally didn't say it like a question.

Percy visibly flinched. After a moment's paused he opened his eyes with a small, insincere chuckle. "Told you it was worse than you could imagine."

"What...what happened in...down there?"

Percy shook his head. "I can't…"

Sally stepped forward. "Percy-"

Percy stepped back with a hand up. "No. I-I can't. I know that you're supposed to talk about your problems and that's supposed to help but...I just can't. Not yet." When Sally looked into Percy's eyes, she thought he had never looked so broken. There was so much pain and so much...guilt. Shame.

"Percy, you and Annabeth falling wasn't your fault."

"Maybe not." He didn't seem overly convinced about that. "But mom you don't know what I did down there. You don't know who I became, what I did. What I _am_ , mom. How we got out, I just…" His breath started getting more and more labored and for the first time that she'd ever seen, it looked like Percy was on the verge of a panic attack. Still gasping, Percy sat down and put his head between his knees, his hands gripping his hair. Sally slowly sat down next to him and patiently waited for him to calm down. She didn't try to touch him again after his last reaction.

Sally closed her eyes as she leaned against her building's brick facade. She listened to her not-even-eighteen year old son have a PTSD induced panic attack stemming from the trauma of travelling to literal hell, not to mention the other frequent near death experiences and two different wars he's fought in.

Percy had come back from many battles before. He always tried to make his battles seem less scary than they were but he always told the truth, and he never kept secrets. He would come back shaken up and scared, but otherwise whole.

But Sally listened to her son force deep breaths in and out and back in and she knew that this quest had gone very differently indeed.


End file.
